Wildfire
by mm zayland
Summary: Clary wants to be a Shadowhunter more than anything, and now that she's living in the Institute, she just might get her chance. But Clary has to learn to be careful what she wishes for. Clace, eventual Simabelle and Malec
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This idea has been stuck in my head since the moment I woke up this morning, so I had to write it down. Everyone loves some good Clace action.

Rated T for language and some steamy fluff, k?

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Clary's first sensation was a dull pounding behind her eyes. The second was someone clinging to her hand.

Jace. Of course it was Jace. She would recognize his presence in her sleep.

She felt like she'd been backed over by a truck several times, but the pain was tolerable, and she could feel the tingling of several _iratze_ all over her body. Her head felt blurry, but Clary recalled that the group, her, Jace, Izzy, and Alec, had been shadow hunting a small pack of demons they received a tip on. She vaguely remembered clutching her seraph blade as a large black demon had come from the shadows, but after that it was dark.

She guessed she was lying in a bed in the Institute's infirmary. She knew opening her eyes would mean being blinded by the lights in the room, but it might be worth it to see Jace. She involuntarily tightened her fingers around his at the thought.

"Clary?" she heard Jace say, and felt a movement next to her as he leaned closer.

She forced herself to open her eyes, blinking groggily, but being rewarded with a look of concerned relief on Jace's heavenly face. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his golden hair was mussed like he'd been running his hand through it.

"Jace?" she croaked, her voice feeling cracked, like she hadn't spoken in days. "How long have I been out?"

"Two whole goddamn days. Do you know how much I've been freaking out?" His voice sounded pained, as he leaned forward, placing his palm against her face, running his thumb over her cheekbone affectionately.

She ignored his question, instead closing her eyes again and leaning into his hand, enjoying the feeling. Her other hand, still laced with Jace's, squeezed reassuringly. "What happened?"

He sat back and sighed, and she opened her eyes to look at him, mourning the loss of his touch and close proximity. "You were attacked by a Raum demon. He caught you off guard, and had already bitten you by the time I got to you and killed it. Magnus has been working out the poison since we brought you here." He grimaced as Clary sat up and winced in pain. "We've given you a few _iratze _and a rune to dull pain, but there's only so much it can do demonic injuries."

"Yeah, I know. I'll be fine. " She looked at the way his shoulders slumped, and the pronounced lines on his face that she could see even in the dimmed lights of the room. Judging by how dark it was outside the windows of the infirmary, Clary guessed that it was sometime in the middle of the night. "Are you okay?"

He looked up at her through his eyelashes, flashing his molten yellow eyes and catching her eyes. He stood up from the chair beside her bed before sitting down on the sheets next to her. He rose up his arm, tangling a fist into her hair. She inwardly groaned when she thought about what a mess her curls must be after sleeping for two days straight. Jace didn't seem to care, though. He was searching her face intensely, like he was trying to memorize her features. His eyes burned, unwavering, and Clary's lips parted as she felt her stomach drop. She hadn't kissed him in days, and her body was rebelling.

"I missed you, Clary. I sat here, watching you, hour after hour, wanting to talk to you and hear you laugh and kiss you, but you never woke up. And I was afraid you would never wake up."

"Jace," Clary said, "it was just a bad Raum bite. This sort of thing happens all of the time, and just because it's me doesn't mean you can-"

Jace shook his head, closing his eyes tightly. "I'm not trying to stop you from shadowhunting, don't worry. I'm past believing that I can make you do anything you don't want to do." His eyes opened, the same piercing gold staring into her. "But I realized that even two days without you felt like a lifetime. If I really lost you, I don't know what I would do with myself."

Clary looked at him, baring himself to her, and nearly made her heart explode. That this flawless man with his beautiful soul could feel this way about her was completely overwhelming. If she'd been standing, she probably would have melted into a pool at his feet. She felt like he'd stolen her ability to speak and move, but somehow she found the strength to lean forward to press her forehead against his, resting her hands on the back of his neck. "I love you, Jace."

He sucked in a breath, brushing his lips over hers. "I love you, Clary. More than you could ever know."

She pressed her mouth fully onto his lips, and he wound his arms around her back, pulling her flush with his chest, pushing her back so that she was lying against her pillows once more. She felt him settle his weight onto her, not enough to crush her, but enough for her to feel every inch of his body lined up with her own. She felt the all-consuming need to be closer to him, running her hands up his muscular back and down his arms as he kissed her. She tried to deepen his kiss to pull him even closer, and he responded enthusiastically, sucking on her bottom lip, eliciting a small moan from Clary, before meeting her waiting tongue. She entwined her fingers through his soft hair, the other hand tracing down his arm to grasp his hand, as he explored her waist and flat stomach.

He normally tried to restrain himself when they kissed, knowing that letting them loose on each other would be like setting fire to a forest and expecting things to stay under control. Clary was delighted to see that he was letting her push the boundaries today.

He spoke, startling her. "Is this hurting you? Are you still sore?" he clarified.

She nodded her head quickly, cheeks flaming and heart racing.

"Good," he seemed to growl, before capturing her lips once more, stealing her breath.

She felt him wrap one of his hands around her wrist before moving her arms above her head and pinning it there. His mouth moved to her shoulder as she caught her breath, nearly gasping for air as she craned her neck to the side to give him better access to the white skin of her throat. He placed little kisses along her collarbone, licking and biting the skin of her neck, making Clary wriggle and move her free hand from his hair to the hem of his shirt, trying desperately to tear the fabric from his waist.

She felt him grin against her skin before returning to her lips again, prying her small hand from the skin of his defined abdomen that she had exposed and pinning it next to her other arm above her head. She whimpered, trying to pull her arms free to touch him, but he had both her wrists firmly held in one of his strong hands.

He kissed her roughly on her mouth, before moving to lightly bite her earlobe, exhaling a jagged breath into the shell of her ear, causing a shiver to rip through her entire body. Not being able to touch him was torture, and he knew it.

His hand slipped under her shirt once more, splaying his fingers across her ribs, his thumbs lightly brushing the fabric of the bottom of her bra. Clary gasped and arched her back involuntarily, crushing her chest against Jace's, earning a small moan from Jace. Clary smirked, finding an advantage over him, even though she couldn't use her hands. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer and his eyes slid shut, his face dropping down into the hollow of her neck as he breathed roughly against her skin, his hands automatically going to her hips. He traced the skin there with his fingertips, gliding over the bone of her hip jutting out at her waist, and ghosting the line of her thin sleep shorts. Clary's head pressed back into the pillow as Jace dotted kisses underneath her chin. His fingers dipped just under the waistband of her shorts and her hips bucked up against him unwillingly, causing them both to moan, the sound echoing in the large space of the room.

"Fuck, Clary," he groaned. Jace's hand went to Clary's side to steady himself, his grasp on her wrists loosening momentarily, and she seized the opportunity to free herself, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him close to her.

He raised his head up to face to look at her. His ragged breaths matched her own as he stared down with hooded lids into her wild green eyes. He brushed a piece of her hair off her forehead and cupped her cheek before kissing her sweetly, with a gentler sort of passion than she had felt from him before. She kissed him back, eager to continue, but he held the kiss back from deepening. She sighed into his mouth, knowing that he was right, and begrudgingly unhooked her legs from his hips. He slowed the kiss before detaching himself to lay a single kiss on the corners of her mouth, and then her forehead, his lips lingering on the skin there. She let her eyes slide closed, taking in a deep breath and breathing in Jace, the faint soap and spice smell that could not be anyone else but her Jace.

When she opened them, she saw Jace watching her curiously. She again noticed the deep bruised patched of skin ringing his eyes, and how his cheekbones were slightly sunken in, like he hadn't eaten in days. She frowned, and sat up. He flipped onto his back, lying back against a pillow. "When was the last time you ate, Jace?"

He shrugged, and continued to stare at her.

"Did you sleep at all in the last two days?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I didn't want to fall asleep until you had woken up. I didn't' want to leave you. If something happened, I wasn't there… And I wanted to be there when you woke up, so I was the first thing you saw."

"Jace," Clary breathed out, a small smile on her face. She leaned over to kiss him once, trying to tell him everything she couldn't put into words. As they did every time, his lips seemed to mold against hers, like a puzzle piece snapping into place. Pulling back, she cupped his cheek. "Well, I'm here now. I'm awake and I'm fine. You can sleep now."

He nodded, and pulled her down next to him. She curled into his side, cuddling up against him as he wrapped his arms around her, and soaked in his warmth. She laid a hand on his chest, balling some of the fabric of his shirt in her fist. She immediately felt a wave of exhaustion hit her like a wall.

"I love you, Clary," Jace said quietly, his deep voice vibrating his chest against her ear.

"I love you too, Jace," she whispered, before drifting off into the best sleep of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: K, so I wasn't planning on continuing this as more than a one-shot, but... So, readers and reviewers, what should I do? Make this chapter a separate one-shot story? Continue writing semi-unrelated one-shots in one collected story? Form this fluff factory into some sort of plot? Let me know what you guys think.**

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Clary ran her hand over the cool, smooth metal of the broadsword, captivated with the way the lights reflected off the gleaming blade. The hilt was adorned with swirling metalwork, forming the face of a roaring lion. _What would it feel like to wield such a weapon?, _she thought. She guessed that she would probably feel invincible, like a real Shadowhunter.

She wrapped her hand around the hilt, feeling the lethal weight of the sword as she tried to lift it from its mount on the wall. It barely budged, the ancient looking metal too heavy for her.

She grimaced before removing her hand and turning her attention to the hundreds (maybe thousands) of other objects lining the walls.

Jace had dragged her here, to the weapons room in the Institute, after they had finished training for the day. He had said that it was his favorite room in the old building; that much she could have guessed, judging by how much time he spent here.

Clary's favorite room was probably the little room down the hall that held Jace's grand piano, where she had heard Jace play the first day she arrived at the Institute, and where she still often watched him play with such skill and emotion, she usually ended up silently crying and tackling him off the bench into a kiss.

Or maybe the greenhouse, up the spiral staircase, where he had first kissed her.

Or maybe Jace's tidy white bedroom, where she had snuck into on many occasions to curl into his arms when she had bad dreams and couldn't sleep.

It had been six weeks since she'd had the run-in with a demon, and she was fully healed. Jace was taking full advantage of her renewed health; just not in the way she wanted.

Lately, he had pushed her harder than ever before in her Shadowhunting training. They had had one or two more "encounters" like the night in the infirmary, but she could sense that Jace was holding himself back; never quite letting himself go, never quite giving himself to her. Instead, he focused all his energy on teaching her to defend herself against arrows and knives, and how to scale walls and how to take a fall gracefully, and how to absorb the energy from being flipped over his shoulder onto her back.

Clary knew that Jace was just doing it to protect her and leave her better readied to face the realm of shadows, and to help her make up for years of lost knowledge. After Jocelyn had realized that there was no way Clary was going to leave the Shadowhunting world, she had tentatively allowed her daughter to stay at the Institute with the Lightwoods.

Even still, she missed Jace. Some days they would train until they were black and blue, and Clary would be too exhausted to eat dinner, instead opting to collapse into her bed in a dreamless sleep. She could barely walk at the end of the night, let alone have the energy to make out with her boyfriend.

Now, she looked up at the boy. His golden hair hung into his eyes, his face bent in concentration as he looked over some throwing stars with runes carved into their surface. She sighed quietly, and stiffly walked over to him. Standing behind him, unnoticed, she snaked her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek against his back and closing her eyes. She felt him stiffen, and immediately frowned. He'd been acting so strange lately, not welcoming her touch like usual, and avoiding her eyes. Refusing to let go, though, she heard the clang of the metal stars as he set them on the workbench in front of him. He laid one over both of hers for a moment for turning around to face her, her arms never leaving his waist. Towering over her, Jace wrapped her tightly in his arms and rested his chin on top of her head before letting out a long breath.

She ran her nose along his collarbone, feeling at home this close to her Jace, but still unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong between them. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Do you still love me, Jace?" She winced as soon as the words left her lips, burying her face deeper into this T-shirt, trying to hide her embarrassment.

This time, he really did stiffen. She heard a strange choking gasp come from his mouth, and his arms locked like a cage around her torso, pressing her roughly against him. "W-what?" he croaked out. "Clary, of course I do." He sounded hurt, and his breathing was shaky in his chest against her cheek.

She looked up at him shyly, to see him staring down at her, the hurt she had heard in his voice painfully evident on his face. "It's just that lately you don't even act like I'm your girlfriend; it's like you only see me as your student." She dropped her eyes back to his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… It's just, sometimes I feel like you don't want me the way I want you-"

"Clary," he said, reaching up to hold her chin with one hand, forcing her to look at him. He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes burning down into hers, trying to tell her all the things he couldn't say. He raised her chin up more to meet his lips, and he kissed her softly. She was grateful for the contact and the distraction, and her fingers balled up his shirt in her fists, and kissed him back fiercely.

Still holding her chin in his hand, the other firmly pressed against the small of her back, he pulled back despite a noise of complaint from Clary. "You have to stop believing that I'm ever going to stop loving you, Clary. It's impossible. I've loved you since the first moment I saw you, I love you now, and I'll love you for the rest of eternity. And the whole 'until death do us part' mundane thing? To hell with that, Clary. I'll love you after I'm dead, too. My love for you is such a foundational part of my soul now, I would be left with nothing without it. Without you. Can you understand that?"

Wide eyes, brimming with tears, nodded up at Jace.

"Good," he growled, a smirk on his graceful face. "Because there's no way I'm letting you go."

Clary grinned widely, crashing her lips against his and standing on her tiptoes to gain some leverage against him. He stepped back into the counter behind him, pulling her flush against his body. She greedily ran her tongue along his bottom lip, and she smiled against him as his mouth parted in response. Battling with his tongue, she reached up to run her hand through his soft blonde hair, a feeling she could never get tired of.

She felt the hand on her back leave its spot, and felt him reach behind him, brushing the metal objects from the counter onto the floor with a crash. Reaching back around her again, his hands gliding down her back to her hips, resting there a moment before sliding into the back pockets of her jeans. She melted into him further, and slipped on of her hands up his shirt to feel the muscles of his back.

Before she knew it, he had picked her up with Shadowhunter speed, and spun her around to sit atop the counter, and stood between her legs, one large hand stretched out across her thigh, the other cradling the back of her head. She let a gush of breath in surprise, and he took the chance to move his lips to her neck. Her nails dug into his shoulder and her eyelids drooped closed. She felt him start to pull away, and remembering how well it had worked before, she wrapped her legs around his waist once more to hold him closer to her. He laughed but stilled for a moment to kiss her on the mouth deeply, running both his hand down her legs to where her calves wrapped around his thighs. As he was much stronger than her, he easily disentangled himself, quickly stepping out her reach and grinning back at her. Her hands dropped to her lap and her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Jace-" she huffed, agitated.

"Just hold on one second," he said, chuckling, dimples dotting each tan cheek. "I have something for you."

Clary looked at him thoughtfully. "What could you possibly give me, Jace? I have you; I don't need anything." She reached a hand out to try to touch him, but he was too far. She saw his expression waver and lean forward unconsciously. He held up his hand to take her outstretched fingers in his own. Instead of coming to her like she wanted, he raised her hand to press his lips against her palm, and again to the inside of her wrist, causing Clary's breath to catch. He let their entwined hands drop between them.

"While I appreciated you saying that, I think this is something you'll like."

Her shoulders drooped and she let out a sigh. "Fine."

His sideways grin returned, as he squeezed her hand once before letting it go and turning to walk over to an old looking brown chest against the far wall. Popping the latch, he pulled out a pile of dark, stiff cloth. Clary was confused until he faced her again and placed the pile into her lap.

She gasped when she realized what it was: the tough leather of the gear the Nephilim wore to battle.

Jace's fingers trailed one of the runes etched into the covering on the shoulder of the garment, a rune for protection. "Your very own Shadowhunter gear. I had Robert get it last time he was in Idris. So you don't have to wear Jocelyn's old ones anymore." He smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. He traced the pattern of the rune over and over. She stilled his hand with her own, smiling up at him with reassurance. She leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek, and trailed a kiss over to his nose.

"Thank you, Jace," she said. Then, seeing the concerned look on his face, she added, "Don't worry. I'll be fine out there."

He nodded solemnly, staring at the gear. "I know you will; I wouldn't have given you this unless I didn't believe you were ready for it." His yellow eyes flicked up to hers. "You've really improved in training. I figured you'd earned it."

Her heart jumped at his compliment. If he thought she was good, when held up to his superhuman standards, she must really be getting better. She had felt herself getting more comfortable with the training exercises, noticed how her muscles had filled out in past month, how her body had gotten used to the burn of adrenaline and exhaustion, almost welcoming it.

"Well, I did have this amazing teacher; I couldn't have done it without him. He's probably earned a little something, too." She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him closer to her again. The smile on his face nearly made her faint.

"Oh, yeah? I'll have to meet him and get some training tips."

"You can't miss him. He's this super cocky, cute blonde guy with these amazing eyes, with really sexy muscles," she said, running her hand over Jace's bicep. "So we probably shouldn't let him know about this, cause he can be pretty protective." She traced a line down his jaw to his bottom lip, his shaky breath washing over her face. "I love him."

"Lucky guy," he said, cupping her face between his hands, before bending down to kiss her full on the lips.

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A/N: Might I suggest "You're So Last Summer" by Taking Back Sunday as the soundtrack to this chapter? It fits pretty well with the beginning (The truth is you could slit my throat/and with my one last gasping breath/I'd apologize for bleeding on your shirt). Actually, might I suggest Taking Back Sunday as the soundtrack to your whole life?


	3. Chapter 3

Clary's eyes flew open as she gasped, feeling her heart race achingly beneath her tank top as she stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom.

She hear Jace sigh and tighten his arm around her waist, before sleepily muttering, "Clary?"

She tried to compose herself but her breath was coming in short, painful bursts. She sat up but still the gulps of air did nothing to calm her down.

"Clary?" Jace asked again, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. He raised himself up on one elbow, his other arm still draped across her lap.

Remembering her dream, she seized his larger hand in both of her smaller hands, clutching it to her chest, staring at it like she was trying to convince herself that it was real.

By this point he had dragged himself into a sitting position as well, trying to comfort her. It was 3AM, and he was used to her bad dreams, but it had been so long since she'd had one, he'd begun to believe that they were in the past. They had been sleeping together for weeks; nothing serious had happened, though. They had really just been sleeping. It had begun one night when Clary fell asleep in his room, but now it was just understood that one of them would go to the other once the rest of the Institute was asleep.

"Are you alri-" he began, before he was silenced by Clary's lips crashing down on him, nearly knocking him back down onto his pillow. She clawed at his shirt with such desperation and ferocity that he could do nothing but allow her to kiss him. He kissed her back gently, trying to calm her down and subdue the frenzied distress radiating off of her in waves. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tasted salt on her lips. He pulled apart to see her silently streaming tears, her eyes pained.

He rested his forehead against hers as she closed her eyes, breathing deeply. He stroked her hair as he said, "Clary, it was just a dream. I'm here; you're okay."

She nodded against him, after a moment of hesitation. "Jace…" Her voice was shaky, but her breathing had returned to normal, and her heartbeat had slowed significantly.

Jace was silent, knowing that when she was ready to talk, she would. What she needed from him now was to just hold her.

After several moments, Clary sat back on the bed, releasing her death grip on Jace's now rumpled white T-shirt. She sighed before beginning. "I dreamed that you…you…" She swallowed once, hard. "I don't know what happened, you were right next to me, and then you were just gone. And then you were far away from me, and you were covered in blood and you looked so broken." Clary was shivering as she forced herself to continue, despite the tears spilling over her lashes. "I tried to run to you but I couldn't move, and you were calling my name and…" she choked off as a sob racked her body.

Jace looked at her steadily, holding her green eyes before pulling her body to him. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as she crawled into his lap, clinging to him. He tightened his arms around her until she was completely cocooned by him, trying to stop the convulsions of grief threatening to rip through her body. Her dream had been so realistic, and her reaction had been so powerful. Horror, agony, guilt, emptiness.

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I'm fine, I'm right here," he repeated. He tipped her chin up to look at him. "See? I'm alright. I'm not going anywhere."

She continued to stare at him before saying "I thought I'd lost you, Jace," her reddened eyes fixed on him, the misery she had felt was clear in their depths. Jace inwardly winced when he thought about how he had felt several months ago, when Clary had been unconscious. He had shut down; he couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. Even breathing was a labor, a daunting weight felt like it had permanently taken root in his chest, and nothing could move it but Clary.

"You'll never lose me. I'll always be there for you."

"Promise?" she whispered.

"I promise," he said, if just to placate her. He knew he couldn't always guarantee his presence; being a Shadowhunter meant taking inherent risks everyday.

But he'd be damned if he didn't try, for she'd given him a reason to live, unlike anyone or anything ever had before.

She let out a sigh of relief at his answer, trusting that his words were true.

He laid back on the bed, keeping her against him. She nestled into his side, head on his chest.

"I love you," she said quietly, and was asleep in seconds.

Jace was still awake when the sun came streaming through the windows several hours later.

Xxxxxxxxx

Clary growled loudly in frustration as she slashed through a training dummy with her sabre, it's curved blade decapitating the painted-on frowning face with one graceful blow.

Jace's eyes widened slightly. "Clary, I know you're not happy with the decision, but-"

"You're damn right I'm not happy, Jace! What was the point in training me, in giving me my own gear, if you're not even going to let me kill demons?" she shouted and whirled on him, her furious voice echoing off the walls of the spacious training room. Her knuckles were white where her fingers locked around the hilt of the sword.

Jace sighed. He'd known she wouldn't take this well.

"Mayrse just doesn't believe you're ready to be out there on your own yet, and she doesn't want me getting distracted trying to protect you-" He caught himself before he slipped and said "like last time".

"I can take care of myself," she ground out through gritted teeth. "How would she even know? She's never seen me train, she hardly even talks to me! She probably just thinks I'll get myself attacked again and I'll slow everyone down. I've gotten so much better, though!"

Jace shrugged, already donning the black gear Shadowhunters wore to battle. He couldn't say why his adopted mother had made the decision she had, but he was responsible to see it through. "It's not my call, Clary. I think you're ready, but I don't run the Institute."

Her eyes pleaded with him, her shoulders sagging. "Well, can't you say something to her? Tell her how well I've been doing in training! And I could help with runes-" She knew she was acting like a child, but she didn't want to be left behind. She wanted to prove herself as a Nephilim, and not some ignorant weak mundane.

"I already tried," he replied, moving closer to her to take her hand. Instead she drove the sabre into the floor, sinking the tip into the wood. She turned and stomped to the wall of blades, before grabbing a throwing knife angrily.

"It's just a couple Iblis demon down by Central Park. I'll be back before you know it, and then you can have me all to yourself."

Clary blushed at his implications, but lined herself up with a wall of targets before sending the knife sailing through the air, driving directly into the bullseye.

Jace looked on amused as his girlfriend stomped to the target to retrieve the knife, muttering about how it "could've been a demon's heart". He shook his head; she really had gotten good.

He walked over to kiss her goodbye, but she turned her head away. He sighed and kissed her on the cheek. She'd be over it by the time he got back.

"You better come back in one piece," she mumbled, avoiding his eyes, sizing up the target again. She succeeded in keeping her voice steady. Jace had left her to kill demons plenty of times, and she always worried, but this time an unsettling unease gripped her. Her dream of Jace dying before her flashed through her mind, but she pushed in back.

Jace smiled. "Don't I always? I love you," he said.

"Yeah, whatever," she replied, coiling her arm back before striking the bullseye once more.

He rolled his eyes before turning for the door, two seraph blades bumping against his hips as he moved.

A tight knot of anxiety was growing steadily in her stomach as her eyes ran over the runes spotting his arms and neck. She tried to brush it away.

The guilt wore her down, though; it wasn't Jace's fault she couldn't go with him. She called out, "Wait! I love you, too," just as he pushed into the hallway. She heard him laugh and the door swung closed with a resounding thud, and she was alone, left only with a feeling of dread.

She sighed before wrenching the knife from the wall.

Xxxxxx

Two hours later, curled up with Church and dozing over the Codex in an armchair in the library, Clary was awoken by raised voices. She sat up, upsetting the Persian and earning an angry meow as he jumped down off her lap and padded off.

She hurriedly made her way towards the front entrance of the Institute, and as she turned the corner she saw somebody rush by cradling something in their arms. Her confused look met the white face and wide eyes of Mayrse, whose color only drained more upon spotting Clary. She put an arm out to her in warning, but Clary pushed past her after the retreating figure, who she know recognized as Mayrse's husband, Robert, and who was now shouldering his way through the Infirmary doors. Clary threw another glance back towards Mayrse and the front of the building, a wave of nausea hitting her. She forced it back. Someone had been hurt, badly, and she found herself praying that it was anyone, anyone else but…

She started to stumble after Robert when she felt someone grab her arm, and she jerked her arm back. "Mayrse-" she began, before turning around to face the tear-streaked face of Isabelle.

"Iz-Isabelle?" Clary said, dazed.

"Clary," Isabelle choked, grabbing both of her friend's shoulders.

"Isabelle, what happened? Where are Jace and Alec?"

Isabelle's eyes spilled more tears, and she said, "Alec went to get Magnus."

Clary's eyebrows scrunched. "Then where's Jace?"

"He's…He was…" Isabelle let out a sob, tears cascading down her face now. "Greater demon," she managed to choke out, staring down at the floor with huge eyes. "He was bleeding…so much blood…"

Clary's heart sank, and she yanked out of Isabelle's grasp, shaking her head slowly, whispering. "No… no, he promised! He promised he'd come back-" She turned and staggered forward, her pace speeding into a dead run as she burst through the double doors of the Nephilim's hospital room.

Jace lay on a bed, red soaking the sheets, his breathing labored and slow, and his shirt ripped into shreds, exposing the lines of his abdomen. Deep gashes ran across his torso, gushing in a way that made Clary feel like she might empty her stomach onto the floor.

Shadowhunters rushed around her in slow motion, and Robert's shoulder bumped into hers as he rushed through the door with Magnus at his heels, but she didn't move out of the way, feeling numb. She heard him yell something to the warlock, bent over Jace's broken body.

She saw his head turn to the side, golden eyes locking with Clary's.

The room started to spin. She felt her knees go out, and then everything was dark.


End file.
